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Young People & Health

We hope that this page will help you to find useful information about health issues which affect young people.

Remember, if you are worried about your health talking about your feelings and worries with others can help, so it’s best to talk to a parent or another responsible adult who knows their stuff if you can.

Sometimes it’s difficult to talk to people you know. There are help-lines that you can telephone for advice and support – we have given a couple of numbers below.

If you are a patient at Manor Practice you can make an appointment in your own right, and see a nurse or doctor on your own.

Confidentiality

The Doctors and Nurses at the Surgery are here to listen to you without telling anyone about the issues you raise. Every appointment with the staff here is confidential, which means secret. This applies even if you are aged under 16 although the Doctor or Nurse seing you will need to be satisfied that you are competent (Gillick competence) and able to consent to your own medical treatment, without the need for parental permission or knowledge.

We will not tell anyone else unless we are concerned for your safety or the safety of others. This is very unusual and we’ll always discuss this with you first.

Current Topic

Chlamydia

Chlamydia is the fastest growing sexually transmitted infection in the UK – as many as one in twelve sexually active young people aged 15 – 24 are thought to already carry the infection. It is a bacterial infection that is easily passed on through having unprotected sexual contact with someone who already has the infection.

You can get chlamydia through having unprotected vaginal, anal or oral sex with someone who already has the infection.

You don’t have to have full sex to get chlamydia.

If left untreated chlamydia can cause serious health problems, including infertility, in both men and women.

The good news is that a simple, readily available test can tell whether you have the infection, and treatment is simple and effective.

Testing kits are available at the surgery.

For more information about chlamydia and how you can get a test-kit:Click Here

More Information For Young People

Diabetes

Diabetes UK is an organisation that supports people with diabetes. They have a really good section on their web-site for young people:

Sometimes it can be difficult to do normal day-to-day things, or relationships seem to go wrong all the time. “Young Minds” have a section on their website that gives more information about mental health issues for young people.

This can be a tricky subject! We worry about how being very overweight can be bad for young people’s health, and we worry about young people losing too much weight! This site looks at the views of lots of young people and has links to information on a range of weight-related issues such as body-image and health problems.

Core Assets Children’s Services deliver a range of integrated services for families, disabled children and those struggling with education or in need of therapeutic support that achieves positive outcomes.

The HPV vaccine is a series of 3 injections designed to help protect young women against some forms of cervical cancer when they get older. This link will give you more information, and contains a video in which a group of teenage girls and a GP explain how the HPV vaccine can reduce the risk of cervical cancer.

Young carers and young adult carers care for, or help to care for, someone who has a long-term illness or disability. This might be a parent or grandparent, a brother or sister, or another family member. Sometimes the people the young person cares for has a physical illness or disability, but sometimes they have mental health problems or have problems with drugs or alcohol. There are lots and lots of young carers and young adult carers out there, but many young people don’t realise that there are others in the same position. Providing care for someone you love can be hard, but there is help out there!

Youth Health Talk is an interactive website for young people. It provides information about many conditions, and stories from young people about their experiences of diagnosis and treatment. There are also forums where you can share stories and ask questions, and many other resources.